You have to play the games on the field. We all know this and we all say this, but that doesn't stop the experts from anointing World Series champions in the winter. After big off-seasons everyone had the Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Red Sox battling it out in the Fall Classic. Who can blame them? The Phillies acquired Cliff Lee to complete what looked to be the best rotation since those classic Atlanta Braves rotations. They won 102 games so they obviously met most of the hype. The Red Sox had a loaded lineup on paper with their Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford acquisitions, but they missed the playoffs as we all know by now.
New York Yankees fans are accustomed to seeing their team fail to translate an off-season championship into a World Series championship. Phillies fans can join the club in 2011. That's just life as a baseball fan though. Teams are built to get to the postseason, but once you get there its a crapshoot.